Thursday, September 12, 2013

Challenge Day 12: Visiting an Old Friend...

"YUPO Chickadee" Transparent WC on YUPO 9x12 (collection artist)
Hmm..You may notice a gap between um Challenge Day 5 and today. OK. About a week. The good news is that one reason I got a little behind in the challenge (in addition to out of town guests) is that I've been planning my new November workshop which will be bird themed and feature painting on YUPO--one of my all time favorite painting surfaces. (Sorry for the all caps that's just how YUPO is.)

Briefly, YUPO is a synthetic waterproof "paper." It's super smooth, clean bright white, and you can much more easily make value corrections such as lifting out your lights. It can feel a little strange at first and like any other new art technique take some adjustment, but now I just love it.

A few years ago when I became more of a "daily painter" I moved away from watermedia to oils. But I've always had a special place in my heart for watercolor and fluid acrylics. So you can imagine my delight when I was asked to teach a workshop that featured watercolors and YUPO and birds. Honestly, I can't think of a more exciting combination.

There was only one tiny problem. I had to confess I hadn't painted with YUPO recently but even as I was saying this I was heading toward the garage so I could run up to the Guiry's art store by my studio and buy a pad. (YUPO comes in pads and large sheets--online at Dick Blick.)

So today's painting is a watercolor and YUPO study of a chickadee in my backyard aspen trees. One quick YUPO tip: Use just 3 primaries (red,yellow, blue) because this takes a while to dry and it will run around on you. The 3 primaries will create wonderful harmonious mixes on their own.

If you have any questions about my SAT., November 16 YUPO workshop please email me. I'll have a link for it soon as well. Happy Challenge Painting everyone--we're almost half way there!

5 comments:

  1. Hi Aimee, Love this watercolor! bright colors and so painterly! Thanks for posting comment on my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Prerana--I loved your leaf painting. Look forward to seeing your challenge paintings! Namaste and happy painting~Aimee

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your chickadee is just beautiful! Love the bright fluid colors. I painted in watercolor for many years (more off than on) and bought some YUPO but never used it. I will have to try it. Thanks for the tip!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks so much Judy--Definitely get out your YUPO and give it a go! I think you'd really like it. The more I use it, the more I enjoy it. Let me know how it goes! :) Aimee

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fantastic paintings, I really liked your paintings. The colors and texture are awesome.

    ReplyDelete